How much progress was made in understanding disease in the Renaissance era?
Despite many discoveries and advances in medicine, there was still very little progress in knowledge of the causes of disease or effective treatments during the Renaissance.
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Hospitals
• There was an increasing number of hospitals in the 17th and 18th centuries.
• The monasteries had been closed down by Henry VIII in the 1530s, so towns needed to open hospitals to take their place.
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Hospitals contd.
• St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London had been a monastery. However, Henry VIII allowed the hospital part of the building to be taken on by the London authorities.
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Treatment in hospitals
• Treatment in was usually based on the 4 humours e.g. bloodletting and purging.
• Hospitals received money from wealthy donors or royal endowments, so they could care for people who couldn't afford a physician.
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Physicians
• Physicians were doctors who had trained at university. They were considered to offer the best medical care.
• Most of their diagnoses and treatments were based on Hippocrates, Galen and the 4 humours.
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Physicians contd.
Physicians were expensive and therefore tended to treat richer people or royalty. Monarchs would have their own private physicians to treat them when they were ill.
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Apothecaries
• Similar to a modern chemist. They would sell remedies and medicines to surgeons and members of the public.
• The medicines were often based on herbal remedies, passed down through the generations.
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Apothecaries contd.
• An apothecary usually trained as an apprentice,
working with an experienced apothecary to learn the various treatments and mixtures that could be used.
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Quack doctors
• As most people could not afford a physician, they had to look elsewhere for medical advice and treatments.
• Quack doctors were unqualified and often claimed to be selling miracle cures.
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Quack doctors contd.
• They sold potions that supposedly contained mysterious ingredients, such as crushed unicorn horn.
• These remedies did nothing to help people recover, and in some cases could make symptoms worse.
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Quack doctors contd.
However, until Pasteur’s germ theory, there was a lack of scientific knowledge to challenge these ideas.
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Hospitals
Back
• There was an increasing number of hospitals in the 17th and 18th centuries.
• The monasteries had been closed down by Henry VIII in the 1530s, so towns needed to open hospitals to take their place.
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